Board Favors Firing Officer for Lying in Death Probe

A Los Angeles police tribunal has recommended that a 26-year-old officer be fired for lying to investigators about details surrounding his partner’s shooting of a Cuban immigrant in October, 1984, officials said Tuesday.

The three-member Board of Rights late Monday found Officer Daniel Perez guilty of making “false and misleading statements” during the Police Department’s internal investigation of Miguel Angel Herrera’s death in South-Central Los Angeles.

Herrera was shot once in the back by Officer Rodney W. Kelley, 25, who said he fired in self-defense after Herrera gained control of the officer’s baton during a fight. Perez supported much of his partner’s version of the incident.

But other witnesses have said that Kelley and Perez beat Herrera without apparent cause and that Kelley shot Herrera in the back as he tried to flee.

Board members would not discuss specifically what false statements Perez offered investigators. However, in rendering the tribunal’s decision, Capt. Robert Taylor said the board “found it difficult to believe that (Perez) did not see any of the shots fired by (his) partner.”

‘Can’t Condone It’

“It is easy for this board to understand why the officer might be less than honest in an investigation, but, of course, we can’t condone it,” Taylor said.

Police Chief Daryl F. Gates has until Monday to decide whether to uphold the board’s recommendation to dismiss Perez, a four-year veteran of the force. Perez was relieved of duty without pay Sept. 4 pending the board’s decision.

Kelley, who also has been relieved of duty after four years with the department, is scheduled to testify at a Board of Rights hearing early next month. The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office is continuing to investigate Kelley for possible criminal charges stemming from the Herrera incident.

According to a preliminary police report based primarily on Kelley’s and Perez’s recollections, the incident began as the officers were searching their patrol area near 30th Street and Kenwood Avenue for two men armed with shotguns. The officers said they spotted Herrera in a driveway behind an apartment building and that he matched the description of one of the armed men being sought.

Herrera became “combative” as Kelley attempted to search him, the officers said. During an ensuing struggle, Kelley’s baton fell from its belt ring, and Herrera, who repeatedly shouted at the officers in words they found “indiscernible,” picked up the club and struck Kelley several times, Kelley and Perez reportedly told investigators.

2 Shots Reported

When Herrera advanced toward Kelley, the officer fired his service revolver twice, Kelley and Perez said. According to the officers, Herrera then ran toward a concrete wall, still waving the baton. The police report said Kelley fired a third shot at Herrera, who dropped the baton before climbing over the wall into the yard of an apartment house under construction in the 3100 block of Normandie Avenue.

Officers later discovered his body there.

Residents of the area, however, contend that Perez and Kelly stopped Herrera and ordered him to clasp his hands behind his head. While he was standing, one officer began striking Herrera near the ankles with his baton, they said.

Officers’ Blows Cited

Herrera then turned to face the officer who was hitting him, they said, and the second officer began striking blows with a flashlight. According to residents, Herrera crouched down to fend off the flashlight blows when the officer who had been using the baton began kicking Herrera.

The 5-foot-5, 135-pound Herrera broke free as the officer who had been beating him with the baton dropped to a crouch and fired two shots, residents said. They said they saw nothing in Herrera’s hands as he ran.

The officers chased Herrera to a driveway behind the apartment house and one of them shot Herrera in the back as he was scaling the wall, the residents said.